Aztec Language Translator

Most Aztec translators online are a chatbot in a feathered hat. This Aztec language translator isn't. Every Nahuatl word in it comes from Wiktionary's Classical Nahuatl dictionary, 4,697 entries the day I counted, 24 October 2026. Phrases come out exactly as Wiktionary has them. Anything missing comes back in brackets, like <smartphone>.

What Language Did the Aztecs Speak?

Nahuatl. Moctezuma spoke it. So did everyone selling chilies in the Tlatelolco market. Their city, Tenochtitlan, is Mexico City now. It never went away, either. About 1.6 million people in Mexico still spoke it in the 2020 census, more than speak Welsh or Icelandic, and plenty of them would laugh at how textbooks spell their grandparents' words.

English	Nahuatl	Literally
Hello	Niltze	hello
What's up?	Nicca	hey, what's up
Good morning	Quen otitlathuiltic	how did you wake up
Thank you	Tlazohcamati	thanks
I love you	Nimitztlazohtla	I, you, love
Yes / No	Quemah / Ahmo	yes / no
You are our friend	Titoicnīuh	you, our, friend
Poetry	In xochitl in cuicatl	the flower, the song
War	In mitl in chimalli	the arrow, the shield
Writing, wisdom	Tlilli tlapalli	black ink, red ink
Town	Atl tepetl	water, mountain
Which means	Quihtoznequi	which means

The pairs are the best part, and they're the reason I'd never trust a translator that swaps one English word for one Aztec word and calls it a day. Nahuatl likes to say one thing with two words. War is the arrow and the shield. A town is water and mountain, because you need both to live somewhere. Poetry is the flower and the song. Two words, one thing. Once you see it, you see it all over.

How Nimitztlazohtla Works

I love you is one word in Nahuatl, and it's built like a sandwich. Ni- is I. Mitz- is you, the one being loved. Tlazohtla is love. Stack them and you get nimitztlazohtla. I couldn't find that exact word in any old book. So it's built, three Wiktionary entries stuck together, and the tool says so. Swap ni-mitz- for ti-nech- and it flips around: tinechtlazohtla, you love me.

Testing caught one fast. My mother loves chocolate came back with <my> stuck at the front. Turns out my isn't a word in Nahuatl at all. It's no-, a prefix. Now the tool prints no- with the hyphen still hanging off it, a little reminder that in real Nahuatl it would be welded onto whatever comes next in the sentence. A real speaker would mash no- and nantli into nonan. The tool won't.

Chocolate, Tomato, Avocado: All Nahuatl

You already speak a little Nahuatl. Really. The Spanish picked these words up in the 1500s and passed them along, which is why your grocery list has more Aztec in it than you'd think.

English	Nahuatl
Chocolate	Chocolatl
Cacao	Cacahuatl
Tomato	Xitomatl
Avocado	Ahuacatl
Chili	Chilli
Tamale	Tamalli
Coyote	Coyotl
Ocelot (jaguar)	Ocelotl
Eagle	Cuauhtli
Flower	Xochitl

Chocolatl wasn't the sweet bar, by the way, and anyone expecting a candy bar at the Aztec court would've been handed a cup instead. It was a cold, foamy drink of ground cacao and water, and some cups had chili stirred in, which would surprise anyone who grew up on milk chocolate bars. Ahuacatl has a second meaning in the same entry, testicle, which I'm not going to explain at a dinner party.

The Aztecs didn't write with letters. They painted pictures and signs, and the 20 day signs above are some of the best known. The Latin letters you see on this page came later. Friars brought them after the Spanish came, and they each spelled Nahuatl their own way, so old books rarely agree. Type a sign like coatl into the tool and you'll get its English meaning back.

The English to Ancient Greek Translator is built the same way, and so is the English to Old Norse Translator. The rest are on the translators page, and every Nahuatl word here can be checked in Wiktionary's Classical Nahuatl dictionary.

Aztec Language, Answered

How do you say hello in Aztec? Niltze. Among friends you'd hear nicca, more like hey, what's up. I'd save niltze for someone's grandmother.

How do you say thank you in Nahuatl? Tlazohcamati. Learn that one before anything else if you're heading to the Sierra Norte of Puebla.

Who was the Aztec translator for Cortés? Malintzin, the woman the Spanish called La Malinche, who spoke Nahuatl and Maya. For the first months a Spaniard named Gerónimo de Aguilar turned her Maya into Spanish, then she didn't need him.

Is Nahuatl still spoken today? Yes, by about 1.6 million people in Mexico's 2020 census. That's more people than live in Estonia.

Did the Aztecs have an alphabet? No. Painted books, codices, on bark paper and deerskin. Letters came with Spanish friars after 1521, and the friars never agreed on spelling.

What is the most accurate Aztec translator? Honestly? None of them, for full sentences. For single words and the phrases here, one that shows you its source, which is why every answer on this page traces back to Wiktionary.